Receptive fields of single cells and topography in mouse visual cortex

Abstract

The visual cortex was studied in the mouse (C57 Black/6J strain) by recording from single units, and a topographic map of the visual field was constructed. Forty‐five percent of the neurons in striate cortex responded best to oriented line stimuli moving over their receptive fields; they were classified as simple (17%), complex (25%) and hypercomplex (3%). Of all preferred orientations horizontal was most common. Fifty‐five percent of receptive fields were cicularly symmetric: these were on‐center (25%), off‐center (7%) and homogeneous on‐off in type (23%). Optimal stimulus velocities were much higher than those reported in the cat, mostly varying between 20° and 300°/sec. The field of vision common to the two eyes projected to more than one‐third of the striate cortex. Although the contralateral eye provided the dominating influence on cells in this binocular area, more than two‐thirds of cells could also be driven through the ipsilateral eye. The topography of area 17 was similar to that found in other mammals: the upper visual field projected posteriorly, the most nasal part mapped onto the lateral border. Here the projection did not end at the vertical meridian passing through the animal's long axis, but proceeded for at least 10° into the ipsilateral hemifield of vision, so that at least 20° of visual field were represented in both hemispheres. The magnification in area 17 was rather uniform throughout the visual field. In an area latral to area 17 (18a) the fields were projected in condensed mirror image fashion with respect to the arrangement of area 17. Medial to area 17 a third visual area (area 18) was again related to 17 as a condensed mirror image.